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Last Post Oct 26, 2006 11:03 AM by: deirdre@ebay.com
Replies: 28
albert123@ebay.com
Posts: 73
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 4:58 PM
Thanks for joining us here today at our workshop “Customer Service Tools and Tips for eBay Sellers”. My name is Albert, and I am a product manager here at eBay focused on helping eBay sellers better manage customer service with eBay buyers.

If you’re looking to increase repeat sales, increase your customer service productivity, and differentiate yourself as a seller, this workshop is for you!

We will spend the next hour here with you sharing some information about a few tips and tools based on feedback from successful sellers like yourself. We’ll also have time for questions and answers.
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 4:59 PM
I. First of all, why is good customer service important?

A.) Acquiring new customers is 5 times more costly than retaining past buyers.

B.) According to a recent survey of top eBay sellers, good customer service is the #1 driver of repeat activity

C.) Streamlining your customer service processes is an opportunity to reduce your operating costs
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:02 PM
II. Secondly, what are some concepts or ways to view your interactions with buyers?

A.) Think like a buyer.

Think about questions that you might ask if you were a buyer in their shoes
Make sure that your listings and descriptions are populated cleanly with enough information to answer questions, but not overwhelming

For example including detailed pictures, shipping details, payment instructions & methods, and product specific questions.
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:03 PM
B.) View every interaction with an eBay users as a chance to convert them to buyers

For example courteous replies, proper grammar, an email signature, and thanking the buyer for their purchases may appear to be small things, but they are powerful ways to reinforced your position as professional, customer centric. A few small things will help build good will for future purchases.



C.) Set Clear Buyer Expectations

As it is often said, half of success is determined by the expectations you set. Similarly, in your interactions with eBay buyers, being up front with your customer service policies will help set expectations.

For example, if you only have one customer service representative or do not answer questions on weekends, noting that in your item description or in your Frequently Asked Questions pages will alert buyers as to when they should expect to hear a response.
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:06 PM
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:07 PM
III. Tools



A.) Deflect Buyer Questions with eBay’s New Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) Product

With eBay’s FAQ feature, we now give sellers the opportunity to display extra information to buyers on the Ask Seller a Question page. Buyers will see one or more of the following based on the seller’s preference:

• Seller Specific Frequently Asked Questions
• Item Specifics on the individual item
• Questions and Answers posted on that listing

Sellers can also add the Frequently Asked Question as a Custom Page in their Store.


This feature will enable you as sellers to proactively answer many common questions.
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:08 PM
If you would like to create your own custom Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), follow these steps:


1. Go to Ask Seller a Question in My eBay Preferences. Link

ASQ Preferences

2. Select the options you want to display on the Ask Seller a Question page.

3. Enter your questions and answers. You can preview your FAQs before showing them to buyers.

4. Click Submit when you are finished!
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:09 PM
Where will this feature be displayed?
This new feature will be displayed in two places.

1st on the Ask Seller a Question Page here:

ASQ Page

And if you are an eBay Storeowner, you can select the frequently asked questions as a custom page as well!


Selecting Frequently Asked Questions as a Custom Page in Your Store
If you currently have an eBay store, you can select the FAQs that you have created as a custom template. Simply go to Custom Pages within Manage My store, and select Frequently Asked Questions as your template.

ASQ custom page


You can access Stores Custom pages here:

Link

Follow the normal Custom page Setup, and you’re set!
If you would like to know more about answering buyer’s questions, go here:

Link
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:10 PM
B.) Improve Customer Service Productivity: Keep a list of your common questions and answers in an electronic file

Having an electronic file allows you or your customer service representatives to quickly copy and paste responses to common buyer questions.

However, please be sure to personalize the “to” and “from” fields to add that special touch to your customer interactions.
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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:12 PM
C.) Proactively address buyer questions with Selling Manager Pro’s Automated Post Auction Emails

eBay’s Selling Manager Pro product helps eBay sellers save time by automating post responses to your buyers – reducing questions before buyers attempt to ask.

For example, you can choose from 7 fully customizable templates that are triggered based on buyer activities:

Winning buyer notification, payment reminder, payment received, request for shipping address, feedback reminder, shipping notification

For more information on the Selling Manager Pro Product please visit:

Link


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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:12 PM
C. Leverage Third Party Products & Certified Providers

3rd party tools and eBay Certified Providers such as Microsoft Outlook, Vendio, Hosted Support, mPire, provide products that help manage customer service with your eBay buyers more efficiently.

For example, within Microsoft Outlook you can create rules based on email subject headers and filter to the appropriate bucket. For example, some sellers route all questions with the word “Shipping” in the subject title to a specific folder where their shipping expert can address those questions.

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albert123@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:13 PM
Also, tools such as Hosted Support allows you to create rules to send back automated responses to buyers based on keywords embedded in the body of the email.

Also, Vendio’s Sales Manager sends automatic post auction responses back to buyers and even has a newly released automated thank you tool that recently launched.

Please feel free to visit solutions.eBay.com for more information on 3rd party certified providers who can help streamline your eBay business.
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deirdre@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 25, 2006 5:18 PM
Hi everyone:

We've posted to workshop material early to allow you to read through it prior to the workshop.

We'll open the workshop tomorrow, October 26 at 10:00 am PT for questions and comments.

See you tomorrow,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development
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deirdre@ebay.com
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eBay Workshop: Customer Service Tools and Tips For eBay Sellers - Oct 26

Oct 26, 2006 10:01 AM
Welcome and thanks for joining us today!

We love workshops to be interactive, so please feel free to ask your questions that directly relate to this topic.

Added note: If you click on the "Watch this discussion" link, you will receive an email each time someone posts to the workshop.

Stop Watching: If at any time you no longer want to receive updates on a thread you are watching, just click on the link titled "Stop Watching Thread" found in the specific thread being watched. Also you can remove any watched thread by clicking on the "Watched Discussions" link located in the log in bar and deleting the watched thread.

If you're new to the discussion boards, please be sure to check out the board tutorial:

Link


Cheers,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development
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